The white Gulfstream carrying Binyam Mohamed skimmed across the bungalow rooftops of Cavendish Avenue and touched down at 1.11pm yesterday, returning its passenger to British soil for the first time since 2002.

Mohamed's arrival at the RAF Northolt airbase in west London ended seven years of incarceration as a terrorism suspect, including more than four years at the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, from where he was returned yesterday.

He was the victim of alleged torture by his captors in Pakistan and Morocco, and upon landing a statement was issued by his lawyers, in which he said Britain had been involved in his interrogation. The high court has heard evidence that an MI5 officer interrogated him when he was being held incommunicado in Pakistan. MI5 later agreed to give the CIA information about Mohamed even though the CIA refused to say where and how he was being held.

Mohamed was accused by the US of conspiring to make a "dirty bomb", but he says his confessions were made under torture and the US dropped all charges against him last year.

Yesterday he landed aboard a Gulfstream G400 registered to a private US charter firm, Prime Jet of California. Gulfstream jets were the CIA's favoured aircraft for "extraordinary rendition" operations, including the secret flights that took Mohamed from Pakistan to Morocco and, later, from Morocco to Afghanistan.

At the RAF base yesterday, Mohamed was met by a welcoming party that included his sister, Zuhra Mohamed, and his legal team, which includes the human rights lawyers Clive Stafford Smith and Gareth Peirce, and his US military attorney, Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Bradley.

Zuhra, a US citizen who had travelled to London to meet her 31-year-old brother, said: "I am so glad and so happy, more than words can express. I am so thankful for everything that was done for Binyam to make this day come true."

Stafford Smith recounted yesterday how the FBI had come to Zuhra and her brother Benhir in June 2002 to tell them that their brother had been detained briefly by the US. He had been arrested in Karachi accused of travelling on a false passport as he tried to fly back to London.

Yesterday, having taxied from Northolt's Nissen huts to the modern terminal buildings, the jet's door was opened and Mohamed was led down the steps by men in dark suits, one of whom was understood to have been a government doctor and others representing the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Gone was the orange jumpsuit for which Guantánamo Bay has become notorious. Mohamed wore a white skull cap, a white cardigan, blue jeans and white trainers.

Despite concerns that his recent hunger strike in protest at his long imprisonment and ill-treatment would have weakened him significantly, he carried a bundle of documents and walked unaided.

Two news helicopters buzzed above the airfield capturing the moment. Mohamed's return is certain to increase the insistence of questions about the UK's involvement in and knowledge of the alleged torture of terrorism suspects since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Mohamed was subjected to several hours of what Peirce described as "re-entry procedures," and questioning by police officers and immigration officers. He was questioned about his circumstances here and where he intended to live. He has given what his lawyers and the Home Office confirmed yesterday were "voluntary security undertakings". These include regular visits to a police station.

He was released from detention at RAF Northolt shortly before 6pm, the Metropolitan police said last night.

Scotland Yard issued a statement, saying: "A man detained by officers from the MPS Counter Terrorism Command under ports and border controls, contained within the Terrorism Act 2000, was released at 5.46pm today. The man had been detained at RAF Northolt shortly after 1300 hours today following his return from Guantánamo Bay."

Officers had decided to deal with his paperwork at the RAF base to avoid any need for him to be taken to the maximum security police station at Paddington Green in central London, it said.

The government has given Mohamed what officials stress is only temporary permission to stay in the UK. It is understood he has not applied for asylum.

Asked yesterday whether the government would take any action against him, Stafford Smith replied that his message to anyone who wants to put him on trial is "bring it on". All charges against Mohamed, notably that he was planning to build a "dirty bomb" were dropped last year after evidence emerged in the US and British courts backing up his earlier claims that he had been tortured.

Stafford Smith said he hoped Mohamed would now have a "very quiet few days".

Still detained

Three prisoners with UK connections remain in Guantánamo though all have been cleared by the US for release:

Shaker Aamer, a former British resident, whose wife and children are British nationals living in London, was seized in Afghanistan in 2001 and has been held in Cuba since early 2002.

Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian national and former British resident, was seized in Pakistan in December 2001 and has been detained in Guantánamo since 2002. He says he fears arrest and torture if he is deported to Algeria.

Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed is an Algerian national who was captured and sold to US soldiers in Pakistan after fleeing from Afghanistan, according to the human rights group Cageprisoners. He has lived in France, Italy and the UK.